Opening Night: “The British Are Coming” Group Show at Copro Gallery

Last Saturday, Los Angeles got a new kind of British invasion. Copro Gallery held their “The British Are Coming” group show in conjunction with Brit Week which celebrates creative innovation between the US and UK. If you couldn’t make it to the show, you missed an opportunity to see work by UK artists Banksy, Pure Evil, Insa, Nick Walker, RYCA, Inkie, Goldie, China Mike, and Ben Eine. The exhibition gave viewers the chance to enjoy gallery sized pieces from rarely accessible artists who live thousands of miles away. There was a surge of international activity between them. Ben Eine is one of the artists who made the trip across the pond, leaving us with this new mural in Denver. Meanwhile, Nick Walker, known for his mix of photographic imagery and conventional graffiti, painted a new mural on Elizabeth Street in New York.

Although their works at Copro had no collective theme, most of the art was decidedly patriotic. RYCA’s piece played with the typography of “Right Here, Right Now”, inspired by British band Fatboy Slim. Pure Evil chose a series of four ‘crying’ portraits of a young Queen Elizabeth. Others were not so specific. Ben Eine’s “Vandalism” felt like a tongue in cheek comment on the misconception of street art as defacement. Inkie contributed his signature Art-Nouveau and Deco inspired paintings of girls with colorful flowing hair. The exhibit was a one night event, but you can see all these and more on Copro Gallery’s website.